Park City

I had some grand visions of me taking pictures of our trip to Park City and having a fantastic post about it. But then I started to enjoy my vacation and totally forgot about taking pictures. So you will just have to imagine it!

We started off to Elaine's house around 10:15 or so on Wednesday morning. Keldrie was so excited to go see her Grandma Smith. She had been asking to go back since Easter. We dropped her off and she couldn't be happier to be rid of us. So Matt and I headed up to Weber Canyon. We stopped at this place about 8 minutes past Morgan called Taggart's for lunch. I had a coupon! I love getting a deal. The coupon was a buy one get one free entree. Booyah! We both had the special for the day, Steak Sandwich with onion, cheese and au Jus. It was delicious!

So after we stuffed ourselves, we got back in the car and finished the drive out to Park City. We got there around 1 or so. Since we couldn't check into the hotel for a few hours, we decided to go to the outlets. The outlets were like 90 seconds from our hotel. We stayed at the Hampton Inn. Perfect. So we went over there and I had fun shopping for all sorts of stuff. We got a bunch of presents taken care of. Plus, I've been having a hard time finding a dress for Greg's wedding. But now I've got a blouse and skirt I am hoping will be perfect for the wedding. It was nice to shop without a stroller and a toddler squawking to get out of the stroller. After about 2 hours, we headed to the hotel and just chilled for a bit. Matt isn't used to shopping like I am.

After we had rested for a bit, we decided to head into downtown. We knew that we were coming in the downtime between winter and summer seasons up there, but walking around Main Street would have been creepy if I hadn't had Matt there with me. The street was EMPTY. We saw like 10 other people the whole time we were there. We did stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company. Two caramel apples, one for us and one for Elaine as a Thank-you.  By then, the steak sandwiches from earlier had finally left our systems and we headed to a restaurant we had heard a lot about, The Baja Catina. It was tasty! As you might imagine, it was a Mexican restaurant. Matt had some sort of huge delicious looking burrito and I had fajitas. Yummy!

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and got into our swimsuits. We went to the hotel pool and enjoyed swimming with just the two of us. There was also a nice big hot tub that we relaxed in. Around 8 or so, we headed back to the room. We had thought about going to a movie after dinner, but there was nothing playing that we wanted to see. Lucky for us, the hotel had TNT and there were two fantastic basketball games on. They were both so close! Sometimes it is more fun to watch a game when you really don't care who wins.

We finally headed to bed around 11 which is about normal for us. However, we must have really worn ourselves out because we slept until 8:30. After we got dressed, we went to the complimentary hot breakfast that the hotel offered. It was delicious. There was omelets, sausage, waffles, biscuits, hot chocolate, fruit, juice, and muffins. We were both very happy with it. Once breakfast was done, we went back to the room and I couldn't stop myself from calling and checking in on Keldrie. Found out she was happily pounding on the piano. Then we went back to the outlets for a few stores I had missed the day before and to go back and get some sunglasses I had thought about getting the day before. They are my mother's day present. They are also the most expensive sun glasses I have ever owned, which isn't saying much since the second most expensive pair was $15 dollars.

Then we headed down to Salt Lake City to do a bit more shopping and we had lunch at one of our most favorite restaurants: The Cheesecake Factory. It is so delicious! Even the Diet Coke tastes better. And once you finish your lunch, you have to get a piece of cheesecake. This time we got Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake. It was so good. By this time, I was really missing my baby girl. We headed back to Elaine's. There we found Keldrie playing with Grandma Smith and she was much less excited to see us. When I told her it was time to go, she cried. I guess the two of them had lots of fun together. She definitely played hard. Here is a picture of her 3 minutes into the 10 minute drive home.

Now we are home, sleeping in our own beds, making our own food, and watching High School Musical 2 on a loop again. Welcome Home! I did manage a picture of everything I bought once we got home. Actually, this isn't everything. I bought a few presents and I couldn't put those on here!

I am hopeful that Spring is actually here to stay now. Hope you all are having a good week!

Happy Easter!

Our Easter celebrations started over at Grandma Smith's house this year. We dyed eggs with Grandma, Gaby, Julia and Josh. Andrew watched patiently. Being the cute little guy he is.
Here's the pictures of that:

Elaine bought a kit that had stickers for decorating eggs, so we started off there and let the kids decorate those eggs first before pulling out the actual dye.

Julia is quite the artist! Hers looked better than mine and Kel's.

The eggs drying. Gaby brought over a movie that I found downright hilarious: Megamind.

I didn't get to watch much but what I could hear was pretty funny.

Keldrie and Andrew playing together with the help of Grandma. 

We had a great time playing together and sure, I doubt Keldrie's shirt will ever look the same, but it was so worth it. Thanks Grandma!

After all that fun, we had to go to bed so the Easter bunny could come and leave eggs for Keldrie. She got a basket full of goodies and once she saw them, she got to go on the egg hunt the bunny had left for her.

And what all did she get? Bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a spring/summer outfit, colored pencils and Penny the Pig. (Thanks again Sara, for helping me decide that the pig was the best choice) Penny was a big hit. She is from Scentsy and has a pack of scent inside and is so soft and cuddly. If I wasn't a grown woman, I would have bought one for myself. 

The Bunny may have got a bit overboard for a two year old. Maybe. It was tons of fun anyway!

After a piece of candy or two, and some breakfast, Keldrie and Matt went out to our patio to color with the chalk and blow some bubbles. I got making pasta salad for the two parties we had after church. Since Keldrie is my little girl, she had to have an Easter dress for church. Here it is!

I love this dress. And I am lucky because it happens to be just the right color for Greg and Amanda's wedding at the end of May, so we will see it again soon! 

After church we went to my Grandma Nicholas's house for dinner and an egg hunt. Uncle Tyler took Kel out for the hunt and I got a chance to sit down and eat for a while anyway. (Plus I forgot my camera and so didn't have to take pictures)

After about an hour over there, we headed back to Elaine's for dinner over there and another Egg hunt. So here is the batch of pictures from that hunt:

Love this picture of Grandpa Smith helping Kel reach an egg that was out of reach. Besides that, here are more pictures from the evening.

Jenny tired so hard to get Katelynn to sit still for a picture of the girl cousins in their Easter Sunday best. She took so much delight in frustrating her mother. The girls all looked beautiful though. 

We had a great Easter! Hope you all did too! Next up, is the trip to Park City. Two days away! 

Life Lately

Like I said in my last post, we've been keeping very busy with school the last few weeks.  I took my Math Final yesterday, so I figured it was about time I updated my blog again.

First off, I love Sunday! As a kid, I would sometimes blow a little headache into a full fledged illness so I could stay home from church. Now I don't remember why. I always enjoyed Primary. I loved singing and hearing the stories about Jesus and the Prophets. I guess it was always Sacrament meeting that was hard for me. Now I enjoy going to Relief Society and Sunday School. Sacrament is still the hardest. Now it is for a different reason. Her name is Keldrie. She has a hard time in Sacrament. I can't blame her. Sacrament starts at 2:50, which is about halfway through her normal nap time. So she is tired and I want her to sit quietly and play with the toys I have very carefully packed for her. Yeah, right. But a few weeks ago we did make it through the whole meeting without even going to the hall. Last week, however, we didn't even make it through the blessing of the Sacrament.

Today, however, is a special Sunday. Not the most special. That's next week. But the Catholic Church calls today Palm Sunday. The LDS church doesn't formally celebrate Palm Sunday, but I try and imagine what that day must have been like in the city of Jerusalem. Christ came in riding on a donkey. The people took their clothes and palm leaves and laid them down so that the donkey holding Jesus wouldn't have to walk on the street. It was an action one would expect for people to do for a King they loved. Christ was (and is) the King their prophets had been telling them about for thousands of years. I feel so blessed to have a knowledge of Christ and his mission here on the Earth. He is my King. My Prince of Princes. He is my friend.

Today I am going to make a special effort to remember the man who rode so triumphal into Jerusalem over two thousand years ago. Yoday is about the perfect man who came to the city and was received and celebrated by the people there. How much I love my Lord Jesus Christ. He taught us so much in three years. He taught us to look to our children as examples. Now that I am a mother, I understand that so much better. A child is simple, innocent, and doesn't judge. They love instantly and without thoughts for themselves. I could go on for pages and pages about this, however, I will keep some of my thoughts to myself now and move on to what we have been doing the last few weeks.

This is where Keldrie keeps putting the Mommy that came with her new doll house. The bathtub. They say that play imitates life, and this is definitely the case here. Whenever I'm not feeling well or are stressed or need few moments for myself, I run to the bathtub with a book.

These are Keldrie's new tennis shoes. They are getting out a lot since I'm too stubborn to put her boots on her anymore and the weather has not even been close to warm enough for sandals. 

This is my mom making breakfast for dinner. I would love having that for dinner. Most Saturday mornings my mom would make a big breakfast too. I would come upstairs and she would have hash-browns going and bacon and toast and sunny side up eggs. She would just sit there in the nook of the island in the kitchen and as each of us came out of our bedrooms she would ask us how we want our eggs, how many pieces of toast, how crisp do we want our bacon and she would make them to order. She would just sit there with her giant skillet and ask dish it up. Some good memories there.  She would always ask us about our Friday nights, who we saw, what we did, why we missed our curfew by a few minutes. Then after this feast, we would have the gall to complain about our Saturday morning chores. There are a lot of things 22 year old me would have to say to 16 year old me. 

Elmo and Baby going for a ride in the stroller. I keep asking Kel what Baby's name is and she just tells me Baby.

Keldrie all clean from her bath and in her fresh pj's. Matt and Keldrie have so much fun at bath time. They play and giggle together. I love it.  I've started braiding her hair at night because in the mornings it was so tangled. Now she gets two little braids to keep it looking nice and to prevent tears in the morning when we do her hair. 

Grandpa Keller found some juice pouches on sale and bought them for Kel and it's been messy. Keldrie wants to put the straw in herself, but can't. Poor thing gets frustrated so easily. I've been trying to teach her to do more stuff by herself, and she has learned some, but she wants to do it all. Then, once the crying is over, and the straw is in, she mostly just wants to squeeze it and watch the liquid come up out of the straw. Like I said, messy.

We've been to the park whenever the weather has been nice enough. This is Matt trying to get Keldrie to go down the slide with him.

Yes, you are becoming bigger every day little girl. It is so exciting for Mommy to see and be a part of. 

This is just a small dose of what we've been up to, but you get the idea. 

I'm very excited for the next month or so. It's going to be busy. We've got three weddings (Sara and Jeremy, Carson and Ambree, and Greg and Amanda), three bridal showers (the first of these was last night), one baby shower (My older sister Nicole) and an overnight, childless, trip to Park City as a late anniversary/early Mother's day celebration for Matt and I. 

And that's life lately! 

Nothing new

There's not much new going on with our lives right now. Matt and I are trying to get through this last few weeks of school. I'm done on Satruday and Matt has a final or two next week. Once I get some pictures and have a few minutes to write something worth reading, I'll update again. Until then, just imagine Matt and I studying a lot!